OK then. So scientists are being given money to stop the cows from causing global warming. Yet another ridiculous project being funded amongst the likes of others such as "Keeping cornflakes crunchy right up until you finish the bowl."It seems the main issue is being skipped around.

Yup its the cows that are causeing global warming, not the some billion cars that have existed since there invention or the billions of gallons of oil and coal that have been burned, no. its the cows. thats like us polluting space someday and blaming some aliens that we dont even know exist

Methane itself, CH4, is not an ozone depleting chemical (see for yourself: http://esc.hanscom.af.mil/ESC-BP/pollprev/ods.htm ). CFCs are the main culprit, which were widely used as coolants, aerosol propellants among other things up until the montreal protocol that came in to effect in the early 90s.Methane is however, a potent greenhouse gas, which is a very different issue from ozone depletion. The ozone layer blocks incoming shortwave radiation (UV) from the sun, whereas greenhouse gases prevent long wave radiation (aka heat) that is not absorbed by the planet`s surface from reradiating into space, thus heating the atmosphere (more technically, the troposphere).

The greenhouse effect is vital in maintaining liveable temperatures on earth, its the increase that humans are causing that is the bad part.

...just in case you were wondering (also i have an exam on environmental stuff like this tomorrow, so in a way im doing a bit of studying here and legitmizing my procrastin

ummm, holes in the ozone dont cause global warming, it just causes us to frazzle from the uv rays. But the methane probably contributes to global warming too- blanket of greenhouse gasesdid anyone else notice how old this post is?

[quote]On 5/3/2006 10:29:30 AM MrEman wrote: so even without industry the earth would still one day face global warming due to flatulant cows? am i correct? we were doomed from the start... doomed i tell ya.[/quote]

It`s called intensive farming. You think there`d be this many cows alive if humans didn`t exist?